ECONOMY

QUICK TAKE - U.S. Mint Halts Presidential Coin Program

This undated photo provided by the U.S. Mint shows the front, right, and back of the President John Adams presidential $1 coin. (AP Photo/US Mint)

President Garfield's face may be the last one on a circulating $1 coin for a while. On Tuesday, the Treasury Department announced it will stop circulating new presidential coins.

The program was launched in 2005 by Congress, and, until now, the mint has made $70 million to $80 million worth of coins for each president. But the public has not used the coins, leading to a huge stockpile in Federal Reserve vaults. According to the Treasury Department, the current stockpile is up to $1.4 billion in coins, enough to satisfy demand for more than a decade.

The Mint will keep making new coins every quarter, as it must under current legislation. But it will only make enough coins to satisfy demand from collectors.

"There’s no reason to make any additional $1 coins for circulating purposes when we already have 1.4 billion of them waiting to be used," said Neal Wolin, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, in a call with reporters.